Last month, I held a concert for all my guitar pupils (of school age) to play something that they had been working on. For most of the group this was their first time performing in public. Some were even singing for the first time too, and there were original compositions as well as covers.
Many congratulations to all who took part. It was really fun working on it, and I’m sure we’ll do something similar next year!
Some guitar pupils have recently posted some songs of theirs online. Watch Sam playing his version of John Renbourn’s Transfusion below:
And Zoe has written and recorded a song called ‘Moving On’. We recorded it during the guitar lessons – Zoe is playing all the instruments, and I helped to create the parts and mix the track.
You can now buy a package of 8 lessons and get the 9th free, with lessons at any time of the week and at any frequency. 8 lessons have to be purchased together to qualify.
I’ve also got some gift vouchers made if you want to purchase some lessons for someone else – a nice thing to put in a birthday/christmas card to be opened on the day.
Delighted to say that I’ll be heading out with Alessi’s Ark again, playing on a short UK tour supporting Jenny Lewis.
Jenny is a American singer-songwriter who used to be on vocal duties for the much-loved band Rilo Kiley, so I’m very excited about going on tour with her.
You can find the links to tickets here, and list of dates are:
London – Islington Assembly Hall (5th Sept)
Bristol – The Lantern (6th Sept)
London – Islington Assembly Hall (11th Sept)
Manchester – The Ritz (12th Sept)
Birmingham – The Library (13th Sept)
Continue reading →
For the last few weeks I’ve been mixing and editing a series of Flight School live videos recorded in my flat at the end of last year. Some of the songs are taken from the recent ‘You Cut The Line EP’ and we tried a few covers as well. I really wish we’d have used more than my rubbish webcam, but the sound is pretty good. View below.
Alessi by Takeshi Suga
Recently, I had the pleasure of recording and playing on a very simple version of ‘Joy To The World’ with Alessi. The very good people over at For Folk’s Sake have included it on a Christmas compilation album also featuring Stornoway, Dark Dark Dark and Left With Pictures.
All profits from the album are going to Médecins Sans Frontières. Do listen and buy it here.
The track was very well received, and attracted some very kind comments from Lauren Laverne, who also played it on her BBC 6music show. Have a listen below.
Very happy to be heading out on a couple more tours with Alessi’s Ark, this time as support to a couple of great bands.
First up this week is a European tour with cult American folk rock band Mountain Goats. List of cities is absolutely fantastic, but going to be a lot of driving to do!
Then next up in November/December we’re playing with a band who I’ve loved since I first heard the beautiful ‘Last of the Melting Snow’. As part of the tour, we’re playing Shepherds Bush Empire which I always give as an answer when asked my favourite venue to see live music. A dream to finally play there, as well as Union Chapel! Please do come along. That means just still have to play Pyramid Stage and Later with Jools and I’ll die happy…
October Tour with Mountain Goats:
7 – St. Georges, Bristol, UK
8 – Union Chapel, London, UK
9 – Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester
10 – Arches, Glasgow, Scotland
12 – Handelsbeurs, Gent, Belgium
13 – People’s Place, Amsterdam, Netherlands
14 – Luxor, Cologne, Germany
16 – La Gaite Lyrique, Paris, France
17 – La Connexion Live, Toulouse, France
18 – Teatre Conde Duque, Madrid, Spain
19 – Caprichos de Apolo, Barcelona, Spain
20 – Casa Cultural Lugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain
Details and tickets links at www.alessisark.com/#livepage